Am guessing that Solid State devices are just much easier and cheaper to design then having to deal with icky mechanical devices. Engineers don't like a lot of moving parts. I don't know what the exact rule is, but the higher the number of moving parts, the greater the failure rate - if that is exponential or just a straight line, none the less, the fewer moving parts the better. Also, energy wise solid states are more efficient. Mechanical parts lose more energy through friction. I think a car uses ~5 percent or some crazy low number of it's total energy to move forward, the rest is wasted through heat expenditure, like friction, etc. Anyway, the point is, at some point in time, mechanical devices are just a waste of time and energy to design around.

Science for teh win! (provided all the science I used in this post is accurate)

I bet they won't kill it. A 256GB SSD is becoming pretty affordable. They could soon put in a 160GB SSD without altering the price point and keep it around as the high capacity iPod. There must be a niche market for it for them to keep it around yet.

the higher the number of moving parts, the greater the failure rate - if that is exponential or just a straight line, none the less, the fewer moving parts the better. Also, energy wise solid states are more efficient

Yeah, but classics are famously bullet-proof. And I regularly run mine for trans-atlantic (both ways) with no charging...

I think a SSD classic would be outstanding. I just can't get over the utility of the physical buttons.

The explanation is probably very simple: they sell enough of them to keep it in the lineup, but not enough to make it worth redesigning it. Also, how exactly would they improve it?

I'm surprised that for the iPhone, we've been stuck at 16/32/64 GB for so long, though. At some point this should become 32/64/128. And don't even get me started on the ridiculous markup for the extra 16 or 48 GB.

A bit of fantasy here but I would love it they updated it so that I could keep my large iTunes library on my classic and stream it to my limited capacity iphone via bluetooth... Personal Area Network...?? C'mon.. please?

I really hope they don't kill it either. I have one that doesn't get used as much these days but still gets used enough and the capacity is really useful, especially with lots of lossless audio.Some people have modded them with pata SSDs so it's certainly possible apple could refresh them without much cost to r&d resources.

the higher the number of moving parts, the greater the failure rate - if that is exponential or just a straight line, none the less, the fewer moving parts the better. Also, energy wise solid states are more efficient

Yeah, but classics are famously bullet-proof. And I regularly run mine for trans-atlantic (both ways) with no charging...

Yep. My iPod is a 5th-gen 80GB (so prior to the introduction of the "Classic" moniker), which is now six years old and still works perfectly.

the higher the number of moving parts, the greater the failure rate - if that is exponential or just a straight line, none the less, the fewer moving parts the better. Also, energy wise solid states are more efficient

Yeah, but classics are famously bullet-proof. And I regularly run mine for trans-atlantic (both ways) with no charging...

Yep. My iPod is a 5th-gen 80GB (so prior to the introduction of the "Classic" moniker), which is now six years old and still works perfectly.

Same with mine, except mine is a 5.5 gen; works like a champ, still decent battery life. I'm guessing once there's a 128 GB Touch (or larger), the Classic shall not be long for this world. I might look at the 160GB Classic at that point if the price drops as a backup.

I didn't think of an SSD inside an iPod Classic form factor. Would they do such a thing without a big re-design to advertise that the new iPod's have SSD in them? I think a large capacity iPod makes sense, but I'm guessing those whose need require a larger capacity drive are in the small percentage of the market share. And Apple, unfortunately, have been unkind towards the 1%. My guess the iPod Classic is only really around because of the yearly corporate party on Apple campus where celebrity musicians attend; like Bono/U2, or John Mayer, and they bust out their iPods and gush about how much they love their iPods, and the hob nobs at Apple look at each other and make sure the iPod Classic is still in production for their rich musician friends. Ironic if that were true.

Sooner or later has to either get a Lightning connector or get killed.

This seems to me to be a real issue. I think that Apple will update the current iPad just for this reason if they introduce an iPad mini. Then the Classic would be the only device sold with the old connector. Maybe Apple would keep it around as an historical icon, perhaps selling the SE/30 as well.

What I don't really understand is why Apple hasn't updated the Classic to have a larger HD. I'm not sure that one is currently available, but if Apple asked for one, it would be. For me, a 250GB Classic could be a useful device for saving photos on vacations, if Apple would also create a camera adapter.

My 20GB iPod is Generation 3, I think. Still works, and I still use it some. It can only be charged over Firewire 400 (and from the adapter). Its HD proved to be more reliable than that of the computer it was listened to, and my music library had to be restored from the iPod.

My 20GB iPod is Generation 3, I think. Still works, and I still use it some. It can only be charged over Firewire 400 (and from the adapter). Its HD proved to be more reliable than that of the computer it was listened to, and my music library had to be restored from the iPod.

I have a second gen. I charged it up and updated the songs for my daughter the other day. I was really shocked at just how good it was given the technology. It's seriously one of the best things Johnny Ives has ever designed. Honestly the iPhone gives him little room to show his stuff. (He should get a workout and wrest control of the Nano back into something interesting - surely he didn't design the current monstrosity)

Apple's done some fantastic designs and had a few misses (some of the unnecessary skeumorphic designs that trump usability being a clear example). However I wonder when the next time will be that they'll really take a function and think through it in such a novel way as they did with the iPhone and iPod. Those really will be studied hundreds of years from now for their design.

Honestly I think the existing iPod classic has far better design than anything that's been in the iPod line for years.

I'd rather have an intoxicated group of people fiddle with my iPod than my phone!

++ Remember the days when people would actually have 'iPod' parties? My friend owns a bar, and she'd actually have 'iPod DJ' night, where you could come in and play music of your iPod. Around 1 in the morning I'd bust out my iPod and play all these rock/heavy-metal classics once the little kiddies and their pop music went to sleep. And the thing about the iPod was it's resilience to being dropped, and, having its buttons smashed by some sweaty drunk teeny-bopper who were convinced that their choice of the latest 2 minute auto-tuned pop song was a mind tripping spiritual journey. </bitter old man in his mid 30s> Thank god dub step popularity came in after the iPod decline in sales and popularity (I like dub step, but hours of it?).

Here is what Apple should do, take the current iPod classic, swop in an SSD for the HD and add a full AppleTV in for good measure.

Still portable, it is an iPod like we know and love. However, take it to some place that has a display with an HDMI connection and you have an AppleTV with all music and video that is loaded on the device. You could stream as well, just like the current AppleTV, but not being able to stream because you aren't connected to a network is now no longer a problem.

I know. But unlike the Pro, the iPod Classic (or, as I like to call it, the iPod) is more or less perfect how it is now; that is to say how it has been for the past three years. Although the lack of upgrade to the Lightning Connector is rather peculiar. I think it may have entered the situation where if it isn't updated next year, it is going to be culled.

The Pro on the other hand needs to be updated. Like, yesterday. We recently built a PC tower with specifications that far outstrip the Pro (minus FireWire 800 connectivity) for just under £550. The Pro? Well that still starts at £2,000 still.

The Pro on the other hand needs to be updated. Like, yesterday. We recently built a PC tower with specifications that far outstrip the Pro (minus FireWire 800 connectivity) for just under £550. The Pro? Well that still starts at £2,000 still.

This sounds suspiciously like the standard "we pretended a single i7 was the same as two sockets for Xeons" stunt that usually gets used to drive the price way down. Probably best for another thread, though.

Re iPod: I love my classic and use it for music far more than my iPhone. Apple totally nailed the controls on this last generation of the scroll dial and no amount of screen tapping will ever be so elegant as this for navigating a big music collection. I realize it's going to die out someday because Apple can't get its 30% cut on a bunch of app sales for it, but I would love to see it go to 256GB of flash for one last hurrah. I'd buy several.

This sounds suspiciously like the standard "we pretended a single i7 was the same as two sockets for Xeons" stunt that usually gets used to drive the price way down. Probably best for another thread, though.

Nope, Xeon. This is a home workstation for application development. The most expensive parts were the CPUs and the Mobo itself.

I failed to mention however the price of the replacement hard drive - £200 - which is an SSD. Windows and applications live on it for speediness.

Re iPod: I love my classic and use it for music far more than my iPhone. Apple totally nailed the controls on this last generation of the scroll dial and no amount of screen tapping will ever be so elegant as this for navigating a big music collection. I realize it's going to die out someday because Apple can't get its 30% cut on a bunch of app sales for it, but I would love to see it go to 256GB of flash for one last hurrah. I'd buy several.

++ its perfectly feasible, low cost to implement and would likely sell quite well. To be honest, I wouldn't say its that unlikely to happen either.Love the idea of it doubling as an apple TV but that would just be too functional

A bit of fantasy here but I would love it they updated it so that I could keep my large iTunes library on my classic and stream it to my limited capacity iphone via bluetooth... Personal Area Network...?? C'mon.. please?

I think we'll see this kind of thing with NFC. If samsung et al would stop ripping off Apple and try to innovate, they should be able to come up with an implementation that's slick and seamless with their current hardware.

Sadly, we'll most likely have to wait for Apple before anyone does anything really cool with NFC.

Re iPod: I love my classic and use it for music far more than my iPhone. Apple totally nailed the controls on this last generation of the scroll dial and no amount of screen tapping will ever be so elegant as this for navigating a big music collection. I realize it's going to die out someday because Apple can't get its 30% cut on a bunch of app sales for it, but I would love to see it go to 256GB of flash for one last hurrah. I'd buy several.

++ its perfectly feasible, low cost to implement and would likely sell quite well. To be honest, I wouldn't say its that unlikely to happen either.Love the idea of it doubling as an apple TV but that would just be too functional

There are already two solutions for that problem. One is Bluetooth hard drives, like the one from Kingston. The other is Apple's iTunes Match.

There's no such thing as a Kingston Bluetooth HD. You mean the Wi-Drive? That's not a solution, as it requires me to carry around two devices, mangles the whole pretty interface thing, and runs on a 4hr battery (at best)

There is, sort of, the Seagate D.A.V.E, but that turned out to be vaporware/developer only

There are already two solutions for that problem. One is Bluetooth hard drives, like the one from Kingston. The other is Apple's iTunes Match.

iTunes Match is useless if you're out and don't have an internet connection, and problematic depending on your data caps (which are only going to become more prevalent).

If Apple kills the Classic and doesn't replace it with something with equivalent capacity, I'll be buying at least one Classic as a backup for my current 4th-gen Classic. I've got an iPod Touch for PDA duties and internet use, but my Classic is the portable jukebox of my 1200 CDs, and I regularly take advantage of the fact that it gives me instant access to everything I own, no matter how obscure, or if the last time I listened to that track was five+ years ago.

does it really need to be updated? it does what it is supposed to really well.

It would be nice if it recognized the same remote control signals that the iOS devices do.

I also wouldn't object to a touchscreen keyboard for searches; I suspect when you need the storage space that the Classic offers, you use search even more than other iPod users do, and the clickwheel keyboard is pretty clumsy.

And being able to drag tracks around in your playlist with a touchscreen is nice.

I wish Apple would upgrade all their music players, iTouch & iPhone too, to include a scroll wheel (i.e. the best music browsing implementation ever). I will always have a fondness for "classic" iPod for this reason.